NFL.com gave Dolphins 2017 rookies a C grade for their performance

With the 2017 season over and the analyzing and overanalyzing of this year’s draft prospects already underway, Nick Shook of NFL.com gave out grades of how each team’s rookie class performed last year. As it relates to the Dolphins, Shook gave their rookie class a C overall.

Here’s the reason Shook gave the Dolphins an average grade:

The jewel of this class could end up being McMillan, who looked good in preseason before suffering a torn ACL that ended his rookie campaign in August. In the meantime, that honor belongs to Godchaux, who was an important and productive part of Miami’s defensive interior, recording 40 tackles and a forced fumble. Tankersley also exceeded expectations, stepping into a starting role and excelling in Miami’s young — but promising — secondary. There’s hope for Harris, who recorded 19 tackles and two sacks in spot appearances behind veteran Andre Branch, but didn’t seem to validate his first-round selection. We still don’t know what Miami will get out of Asiata, who didn’t take advantage of the Dolphins‘ interior-line issues during his rookie campaign.

Shook is correct, McMillan was impressive during training camp before he tore his ACL in the Dolphins first preseason game against the Falcons on Aug. 10. McMillan should be ready for offseason workouts in April, and he will improve a linebacker corps that was very inconsistent last season.

Tankersley and Godchaux were arguably the best two rookies from the 2017 class. Tankersley started in 11 games and was better than expected after he did not play in the Dolphins first two games of the year. Godchaux started five games for the Dolphins as he was an excellent run stopper in the middle.

Although Harris’ numbers weren’t anything special (19 tackles and two sacks), the defensive end from Missouri performed much better at the end of the season. With a full offseason in the Dolphins program, his number should improve in 2018.

As far as the overall grade, Shook’s C is fair. The Dolphins rookies didn’t do anything extraordinary in terms of production and two players of their players (McMillan and Ford) suffered season-ending injuries.

I try to give teams credit for finding talent later, nailing high picks…and conversely, dock them for subpar high picks, lack of contributors in overall class. Dolphins have a group that could end up being much better.